Episode 9 – Katherine discusses her latest book WHAT YOU WISH FOR, finding joy in little things, her love of OUTLANDER (the books not the TV show), why she set this book in Galveston, and the making of THE LOST HUSBAND movie.WHAT YOU WISH FOR can be…
Tori discusses her debut novel Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish, her inspiration for the story, creating a love letter to Cincinnati, the generational theme in the book, her advice for aspiring authors, and much more.Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish can be pu…
Bob and I chat about Nailing It, his desire to inspire and encourage the younger generations to see the many opportunities available to them, how hard it was to narrow it down to 25 people, the people he wished he could have included, and much more.
Ann discusses her debut novel A Good Family, her very personal inspiration for the book, joining the amazing debut author community on Facebook, trying to settle on the perfect title for the book, publishing during the pandemic, and much more.
In this interview, I chat with Ali Brady about Battle of the Bookstores , the You've Got Mail inspiration, writing the steamy scenes, creating a guy who loves romance novels, using Beta readers and how that impacted the origi...
Alice discusses her new mystery A Solitude of Wolverines, combining her passion for wildlife and writing, how she settled on wolverines for the first book in this new series, the research she conducted for the book, and her current wildlife research…
In this interview, I chat with Ally Carter about The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold , how this is a companion novel versus a sequel, why light mysteries are having a moment, watching spy movies as research, writing r...
In this interview, I chat with Catherine Chidgey about The Book of Guilt , how she came up with the ideas for this one, choosing who would tell the story, the hardest part of writing the book, her multiple covers, creating an...
In this interview, I chat with Eliana Ramage about To the Moon and Back , writing about the Cherokee Nation and its history, setting a portion of the story in Oklahoma, her research, writing a family saga, Star Trek, how the ...
Halley discusses her debut novel The Lady Upstairs, her love of murder bus tours, writing feminist noir, participating as a mentee and mentor in Pitch Wars, the importance of building a community in the book world, and more.
In this interview, Chris and I discuss A Gracious Neighbor, the short story that inspired her novel, how we never really know what goes on behind closed doors, why she created her own definition of gracious for the book, her writing process, mean gi…
In this interview, Clare and I discuss The Last Party, setting the book on the border between Wales and England, the increased importance and focus on borders as a result of COVID, living in Wales and writing about it, choosing character names, writ…
In this interview, Deanna and I discuss Killers of a Certain Age, where the idea for this book originated, writing a contemporary story, how creating this story differed from creating the Veronica Speedwell books, the title she wanted for the book, …
In this interview, Jamie and I discuss Gilt, the way guilt permeates the story, the inspiration for this book and for Pavlin and Company, the hardest character for her to write, the relevance of the green cover, how book covers mark a particular mom…
In this interview, Kristina and I discuss The Ways We Hide, including MI-9 in her book and why people are so much less familiar with it, how the game of Monopoly was used as spy craft, her Book Club Guide online, the highlight of writing this book, …
In this interview, Kristy and I discuss The Summer of Songbirds, how she came up with the idea for this book, Friends and Fiction, deciding which characters would tell the story, including an independent bookseller, and much more.
In this interview, Nora and I discuss Competitive Grieving, her own experience with competitive grieving, how writing the book was cathartic, the format for the book, how the beauty of writing a novel is being able to create an entirely fictional wo…
In this interview, Sadeqa and I discuss The House of Eve, how she was inspired by her family's history to write this story, colorism in the Black community, what she learned while writing this novel, her stunning cover, finding the right title for t…
In this interview, Sara and I discuss her High Society Lady Detective series, how she decided to write the series, how it has changed over time, why she chose the indie author route, her recent Kickstarter campaign, her podcasts, and much more.
In this interview, Zibby and I discuss Bookends, how her podcast influences her writing, writing to process the events in her life, how important it is to find your passion, how she decided which book would open each chapter, and much more.
So many fabulous debut novels have come out in 2021. I highlight my favorites below including an Irish family saga, a new mystery series set in Texas, a novel by the Sleepless in Seattle screenwriter, a blistering satire, a non-Covid pandemic …
January through March of 2022 is chock full of great historical fiction titles. I am highlighting my favorites that published in these three months – the ones that I have read and loved. I have interviewed or will be interviewing a number of t…
2022 was a stellar year for historical fiction – so many titles in the genre released, and I worked my way through as many as I could. I love that the historical fiction transports me to another time and place, and I had a blast spending time …
Book guru extraordinaire Elizabeth Barnhill recently joined me on my podcast to talk about the books we feel make great book club selections. In this blog post, I list the books that we recommend with brief publisher summaries for each book. To lear…
There is nothing better than picking up a book and not being able to put it down because it is so engrossing. These ten books all grabbed me from the beginning and had me madly turning the pages until I reached the end of the story. I highly recomme…
The historical fiction genre is booming and provides readers with an escape from today's world and a glimpse into a different time period in history. Novels set during World War II remain particularly popular; there are still so many stories to be t…
Book mavens Pamela Klinger-Horn and Mary Webber O’Malley recently joined me on my podcast to talk about their recommended reads for Summer 2022. They both culled through tons of titles to find those that they believe are the best of the summer…
There are so many fabulous books coming out in Spring 2022, and I had a hard time narrowing down my list of the most anticipated and must-read books of this season. After much deliberation, I chose the 27 books that look the best across a variety of…
I enjoy looking ahead to the next reading season, and the upcoming fiction releases of 2023 look very promising. To help readers decide which ones to pick up and when, I waded through the plethora of titles to create this list of the ones that are m…
The second half of 2022 is chock full of new titles in the historical fiction genre. I created this list of the standouts for this time period to help readers narrow down their choices and to help them find the best books in the genre for this year.…
2023 is going to be a fabulous year for new historical fiction - an incredibly large number of books are coming out in the genre about widely varied topics and places. To help readers know which ones to pick up and when, I waded through the many, ma…
So many great historical fiction titles are coming out this summer! To help book lovers know which ones to pick up and when, I sorted through them to compile this list of the best ones. Once I read a book, I will update this post with my comments on…
Summer reading lists and year-end “best of” book lists are my two favorite types of book lists. Summer 2021 is just around the corner, and I will be releasing several lists – this one which is my most anticipated summer reads that …
Abigail Cutter’s novel Long Shadows published on July 12, 2022. Abigail started out as an artist/printmaker with a MFA from George Washington University, but during a long stint at the National Endowment for the Humanities she developed a…
Maren Cooper’s book Finding Grace published in July 2022. Maren grew up in the Midwest and now resides in St. Paul, Minnesota. She currently serves as a volunteer for various nonprofits and retreats frequently to the shore of Lake Superior, wh…
Susan Meissner’s latest novel Only the Beautiful published on April 18, 2023. Susan Meissner is a USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction with more than three-quarters of a million books in readers' hands and translations in eightee…
I look forward to making my summer reading list every year. People frequently have more time to read in the summer months, and I get a lot of requests for recommendations during that time period. I have combed through tons of books to find the ones …
Creating my Summer Reading Guide is a highlight for me every year, and 2023 is no exception. I have combed through an untold number of titles to find the ones that I really enjoyed and personally recommend, and as always, I have read every book on t…
March is Women's History Month, and as a result, this month I am highlighting books about fabulous women. This week I am focusing on historical fiction stories about strong women, both fictional and real.
I put an asterisk by the authors that…